July 16, 2015
We are having quite the busy summer here at Geneva Point Center.
It has been full of ups and downs. The days off have been good, and
the work days crazy! I really don't feel at liberty to comment on our
experience until we leave here, so I will write about our reflections
later. In the meantime, we have been working hard to help keep this
over-100-year-old camp and conference center running.
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| Our daily commute - 200 yards up to the Inn and Upper Campus |
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| Frequent thunderstorms have kept the campus green. This one set off a tornado warning! |
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| One of the three beaches at Geneva Point |
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| Staff safety classes |
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| Canoeing drills for those who have no clue |
The ice cream shop finally opened once we began to have large
groups staying on campus. It is the social hub in the evenings since
we are a bit isolated on the Moultonborough Neck that juts into Lake
Winnipesaukee. We are open to the surrounding camps and homes as
well, so we get a nice mixture of folks. And, of course, everyone
likes ice cream! After our quick trip back to Maryland to visit
family and especially our new grand-daughter, we came back here to
find that the rest of the international staff had arrived. I met
Ollie from Scotland who is my lifesaver for running the shops. I was
supposed to have another student who canceled and didn't come. Since
I wasn't given a replacement, Ollie and I have been scrambling to
make everything happen.
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| Driving through Meredith during Bike Week |
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| Third floor room in the old Inn |
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| The Inn's Cupola |
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| Graffiti in the Cupola |
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| Poetry and paintings on the wall in one of the rooms |
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| Typical Bunkhouse layout |
I also have two part-time 15 years-olds, both volunteered in the
shops last summer, so they have been teaching us how to scoop, and
whip up the various shakes, floats, and frappes. I mostly run the
register, as evenings especially are very busy. We have an attached
gift shop, but haven't been able to do too much with it as we are
chronically under-staffed. I have to call in reinforcements from the
rest of the campus on the busy evenings.
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| From left to right: Ollie, Hunter, Jesse, and Nato, our most frequent customer |
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| A quiet evening in the Ice Cream Shop |
Greg has been very busy on the Buildings and Grounds crew. Almost
200 acres and 70 buildings of various ages and inconsistent upkeep
means that there are daily emergencies. A lot of them relate to water
and waste issues. From no water in rooms, main pumps dying, toilets
plunged and replaced, to septic tanks being sucked out and Greg's
favorite, the dead squirrel lodged in the root-ball inside the
outflow pipe. Took a while and lots of digging to finally discover
him, and solve the septic problem for a whole lakefront lodge.
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| The Maintenance Shop- Greg's new office! |
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| Greg leading a tour of the drinking water well, water tank, and pumphouse. |
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| Helping Bob with evening on-call duties |
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| Showing off the newly renovated shower house |
Lately there has been a black bear sighted around campus. Greg has
seen it, as well as deer, turkey and porcupine, but no moose.
Chipmunks, and squirrels are everywhere, there are busy crows, and
every night we hear the loons on the lake. Recently we had a resident
mouse that destroyed two rolls of toilet tissue I stored under the
sink, and we found two nests, one in our furnace. He was caught in a
trap early one morning. Woke us up from a sound sleep. While we were
back in Maryland, our neighbor Rick suggested we place our traps
outside, so we didn't return to the smell of dead mouse. Upon our
return we found one in the trap. Greg tossed it aside to deal with
the next day, but found it gone. Some animal took it...
We have Wednesday and Thursday off each week, so since it has
rained every Wednesday, we do laundry, errands and chores that day,
and try to go someplace off campus on Thursday. I've been too tired
to hike, so we usually explore in the car. One day we drove east to
west across the White Mountains, and had a nice lunch in North
Woodstock at the Woodstock Inn. The meal was good, their microbrews
just passable. We miss the microbrews out west, especially the
Pacific Northwest.
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| White Mountains scenery |
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| Local Brews at the Woodstock Inn |
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| Meatloaf Wellington! |
July 4
th, the whole staff was given the afternoon and
evening off. Many were carpooled into nearby Meredith for the
fireworks display. Greg and I have done the crowds on the fourth too
many times, and found a dock overlooking the water a short walk from
our rig. We had it all to ourselves with at least six fireworks
displays to watch along the lake shore, with one very close by. The
mosquitoes left us alone and we enjoyed the romance of the lake with
the fireworks and their reflections.
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| Local fireworks seen from our little dock |
The following Wednesday we discovered the Loon Center in nearby
Moultonborough. What a great little center to find out more about the
loons we hear every night. They showed us a 20 minute film about them
and then we ranged through the small exhibit area. Did you know that
they spend their summers on the freshwater inland lakes and their
winters on the ocean? Their eggs are khaki colored!
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| This decoy was used in the movie On Golden Pond that was filmed near here. |
The next day we drove east two hours to Portland, Maine. The
weather was perfect, so we walked around town, and had lunch at
Andy's Old Port Pub. Greg got clams, and I had an excellent salad,
along with local brews. Greg tried one from Baxters in Maine, and I
had the Lavender Lemonade Mead from Maine Meadworks. That was a
bubbly refreshing cooler made from honey. A nice treat!
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| Commerce Street in Portland |
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| Ferries to the islands in Casco Bay |
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| ??? |
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| Clams, of course! |
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| She had a sign that says "Free Hugs" |
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| Guess they like yoga in Portland |
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| A handblown glass octopus bong. Well it is a seaside city! |
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| This way you get a designated driver |
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| Think this guy got lost! |
After lunch we fought the traffic from all the tourism and drove
through South Portland to the iconic Portland Head Lighthouse. We
passed it from the water 4 years ago as we cruised out of the harbor,
but it was interesting to see it close up. Of course, it is hard to
get a photo just of the lighthouse, with no people on it. The hazards
of summer sightseeing. Guess we are spoiled by traveling in the off
season.
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| Greg commented that in Atlantic Canada they wouldn't have ruined the view with a chainlink fence. They allow tourists to take some risks. |
This week was a bit stressful at work, so we are staying closer to
home. Last night we had a nice dinner out at Church Landing in
Meredith, a nearby town on the lake. Bob and Chris who are retired
and have worked here one month in the summer for the last 12 years,
asked us out. They leave Sunday to go home to Pennsylvania, so it was
fun to relax with good food and new friends.
The campus has been filled with music all week as the Summer
Acoustic Music Week is in full swing. Every morning there are live
broadcasts by WUMB in Boston, and every night concerts and barn
dances. All day there are classes and impromptu jams outside and in
the buildings until after midnight. Greg has attended a few
broadcasts and concerts. I am either sleeping or working, so I've
missed out.
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| The Inn's Lobby filled with instrument cases |
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| The Chapel stage set up for concerts daily during Summer Acoustic Music Week |
The summer marches on with lots more ice cream to sell and
emergency repairs to complete. I'll try to post sooner this time
since I feel like I forget all the interesting anecdotes I want to
write about. We are living in New Hampshire, but with a 60 person
staff from around the world it feels like we are having a
cross-cultural experience!
